Don't bury Jerry John Rawlings at Asomdwe Park - Kyiri Abosom warns

Popular prophet and the leader of Ghana Union Movement (GUM) has cautioned the state and family of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings against burying the statesman at Asomdwe Park.

Christian Kwabena Andrews, popularly known as Osofo Kyiri Abosom, told journalists that during a visit to Mr Rawlings to introduce his party sometime this year, the former President mentioned specifically that he did not want to the buried at that cemetery.

Asomdwee Park is Ghana’s first presidential mausoleum and the burial ground of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

“The day I visited him at his residence before he died, he told me something that I intend to pass on to his family and the state. He told me he is praying for me to win and that if I win and he passes away, I should make sure that he is not buried at the presidential mausoleum. He told me he doesn’t want to be buried there,” Osofo Kyiri Abosom said in Twi.

“Rawlings told me he wants to be buried at a different place. So I will tell his wife [Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings]. I even have a recording of this on video. I can show it to you,” Kyiri Abosom told Journalists after arriving at the Rawlings' residence to condole with the family.

The GUM leader explained that although the late former President did not specify where he would like to be buried, his hometown in the Volta Region, in his view, would be a good resting place.

He said Mr Rawlings even joked that he will haunt him [Kyiri Abosom] if he allows his body to be interred at the presidential mausoleum.

Talking about his campaign, he said he has the charisma and courage to lead Ghana like Mr Rawlings did and urged Ghanaians to vote for him on December 7, 2020.

He described the late President as a selfless and courageous statesman.

Mr Rawlings, 73, passed on suddenly on November 12, 2020, after a brief illness at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where he had been receiving treatment.

The founder of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) was last seen in public on October 19, during the final funeral rites leading to the burial of his mother, Victoria Agbotui.